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Hey! I'm Jillian Bejtlich. I’m a lifelong New Englander with a serious love of the outdoors, adventure, and a pretty serious inability to sit still. I’m plagued by the travel bug, and it seems I’ll try any relatively sane and safe thing once. My big goal in life: Get people outside!

Well, this is going fantastic…

After spending sixty days pretty much just winging it and going with the flow, I don’t know what possessed me to think my first week back in the real world would be more predictable and structured. In my mind I was thinking “Sleep -> Work -> Rock Climb (at the awesome place in the building next door over) -> Repeat until weekend -> Snowboard!”. The week went more like Work -> Pain (that’s been sticking around since Saturday) -> ER visit -> Flu -> Pouring rain -> Any hope for weekend? Lovely.

Anyways, between epic amounts of cold and flu medicine, high fevers, and a fantastic pain in the side (no, that’s not some pessimistic reference to the real world – it’s the reason for the ER visit), I’m more behind than ever on reviews. I promise to have some done soon. Like really really soon.

In the meantime, the awesome high fever that came with the flu must have got me all delusional and made me spend sometime thinking about lessons learnt from snowboarding for the past two months. So, here’s what I have (so far – more wisdom to come):

– It’s all in your mind. No, I’m not calling you crazy, nor am I referring to the fever or the pleasant side effects of the cold medicine I’m currently taking. This adventure of mine taught me pretty quickly that all those inhibitions, fears, and things that I think I can’t do are all mind games. I’m capable of doing (almost) anything I put my mind to (after telling it to shut up and ignore physics). I am pretty sure this principle can be applied to any aspect of life. So the next time you get all frozen up with fright for something like public speaking, don’t picture everyone naked. Just picture them all as double black diamonds with moguls. Piece of cake… err… pile of snow.

– Wise are the ways of the ski bum. Well, not the guy who was on the lift shot gunning a PBR and wreaked of weed. But the ski bum population has got this whole concept of “work to live, don’t live to work” thing down pretty awesome. It may sound kind of lazy initially, but life is for living and experiencing, not just surviving. If you ever find yourself waking up, going to work, coming home, eating a microwaved meal alone while watching CSI, and that’s all you do for years… STOP! You are living to work. Don’t just put in your time and regret it later. Live it up! Find a balance.

– I’m still on board with not taking candy from strangers, but talking to complete strangers is a completely different story. So, if you’re feeling a little daring, sociable, and can quit staring at your iPhone for 15 seconds, a chairlift is a good place to start. I spent a lot of my trip taking solo bets with myself whether or not I was riding with sociable strangers or silent creepers (who act like I’m not sitting 6 inches away). Sad to say, I learnt that most people spend A LOT of time on their cell phones on chairlifts (ironic since getting the phone out usually requires elbowing me in the face). So, lesson learnt: say ‘Awesome conditions, huh?’, ‘Is this your first time at _________?’, or whatever comes to mind. Coming soon: Best Pick-Up Lines from Chairlift Lines and Rides!

That’s all I got for wisdom tonight. But I would like to leave everyone with some wise wisdom from many ski patrollers around the US (including knowledge on electrical tape and beer). This article is awesome in so many ways: The Patroller’s 100

Fitting picture for this post since my head feels like it's in a cloud. A very angry cloud. Not so much on the high winds though.

About Jillian Bejtlich

Hey! I'm Jillian Bejtlich. I’m a lifelong New Englander with a serious love of the outdoors, adventure, and a pretty serious inability to sit still. I’m plagued by the travel bug, and it seems I’ll try any relatively sane and safe thing once. My big goal in life: Get people outside!